I Saw Gammy Kissing Santa Claus
by MkSC77
Summary: Christmas 2019 in the (all-healthy) Flynn household. Andy dresses up as Santa for a Christmas party, and Emily's five-year-old sees him kissing Sharon and gets the wrong idea.


****Nicole's stepsons are younger here than suggested by canon, and I aged Marie and gave Emily another child for this one :) I use the same original characters, but none of my individual stories have anything to do with each other.****

On the Friday before Christmas, Sharon cleaned and started getting the house ready for the Christmas party they were hosting the following night. It was mostly pointless, as they were keeping Emily's five-year-old and eighteen-month old, who could wreak havoc on a clean house in a matter of seconds. Emily's ballet studio had a performance of __The__ __Nutcracker__, and Emmett was out of town for work until the day before Christmas Eve, so Sharon and Andy had grandparent duty.

Sharon looked up as Andy came in with Liam in his arms and holding Marie's hand. Liam immediately pointed to the freezer, knowing there were popsicles there. Andy, being Andy, was quick to oblige and went ahead and got out two, knowing Marie would be demanding one when she saw Liam's. Liam then pointed to the drawer that held the scissors. "You're getting too smart." Andy retrieved the scissors and cut both popsicles.

"You guys haven't even eaten lunch yet, and it __is__ December," Sharon pointed out.

Andy rolled his eyes. "Says the woman who bought more popsicles yesterday."

"Says the man who asks 'what color do you want' the second one of them even looks in the general direction of the freezer," Sharon shot back.

Popsicle in hand, Liam grinned and reached for her, and she happily took him before kneeling to give Marie a hug. "Hi, my darlings." They had watched __The Polar Express__ at St. Joseph's that morning, so they were both in pajamas. Andy had only worked a half-day, so he'd picked them up early. After passing the baby to Sharon, he went back to the car to bring in the lunch he'd brought home for her and the kids.

Marie was bouncing around, hyped up from hot chocolate at preschool and being excited about Christmas. Liam just tapped at Sharon's face and grinned at her before lying on her shoulder and rubbing his eyes. Sharon kissed the top of his head, inhaling his sweet baby smell. "I think you're probably overdue for a nap."

After lunch, Sharon sat in the recliner with a drowsy Liam to put him down for a nap. By the time she laid him down in the pack'n play and was back in the living room, Marie was almost asleep in Andy's lap, watching the Christmas Disney Sing Along video that had been a hit when Emily and Ricky were small. Well, she'd upgraded the worn-out VHS to a newer DVD when Marie was old enough to enjoy it, but the familiar scenes were the same.

Sharon got a blanket from the back of the couch and kissed Marie's forehead before draping it over her and tucking it around her shoulders. "I __don't__ need a nap," she drowsily protested.

"Nobody said you have to take a nap, honey," Sharon answered, knowing she'd be asleep in just a few minutes.

Andy rocked Marie for a few minutes after she fell asleep before laying her on the couch and tucking her in. He looked around the kitchen after helping Sharon clean up from lunch. "How are we going to keep the house party-ready with these two tornadoes?"

Sharon shrugged. "We'll just have to pick up after them and not let them do anything that makes too big of a mess, as much as I know how you hate to say no. The hard cleaning part is done." She went to the kitchen to start getting food ready for the next day. "Put the balls up, please," she said referring to the decorative Christmas balls in a bowl on an end table in the living room that Liam loved to play with.

Andy stuck his head back into the kitchen. "You're gonna have to be more specific. I could take that __so__ many ways."

"The __Christmas__ ones on the table that Liam will destroy if they're in his reach."

Andy sighed, looking dejected. "__My__ interpretation was better."

* * *

A few hours of naps, movies, and messes later, Sharon changed Liam's diaper and carried him back to the living room. "Gammy," Marie whined, reaching for her from Andy's lap.

Sharon switched places and kids with Andy and sat with her in the recliner. "My goodness, you're clingy today! Are you feeling okay?" She brushed Marie's hair to one side and put her hand under her chin. Her eyes looked a little weak, but she wasn't feverish. Marie shrugged and buried her face into Sharon's side. "Let's try to eat a little bit of dinner, and then we'll find another movie to watch," Sharon suggested, thinking she might just be a little homesick. She cradled Marie in her arms and watched Liam toddle around while Andy finished getting dinner ready.

A little while later, Marie just stared at her plate and pushed her food around for a few minutes before turning to Sharon. "Gammy, I don't feel good."

Sharon pushed her chair back and held her arms out. "Come here, let Gammy see." Marie slowly walked around the table and climbed into her lap. Sharon ran her fingers through her hair before resting her hand on her forehead. "Hmm, you feel a little warm. Where does it hurt?"

"My tummy," Marie sniffled.

__Please don't be a stomach virus, please don't be a stomach virus__—Sharon's silent pleading came to an abrupt halt when Marie started gagging. Trying not to recoil or gag herself, she calmly reached for her plate and repositioned it in front of the little girl's face. "Rag, Andy, please," she requested, rubbing Marie's back and pulling her hair back from her face. "It's all right, baby." She rolled her eyes when Andy appeared at her side with a rag straight from the kitchen drawer. "A __wet__ rag."

"Oh, right. Sorry." Andy dampened the cloth and brought it back.

Sharon wiped Marie's cheeks and patted her back until she was finished, then brushed the cloth over her mouth. "Here, sweetheart." She held her glass of water to her mouth and let her take a couple of sips. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and Sharon's heart was breaking for her.

"I feel yucky," Marie pouted, pressing her face into Sharon's shoulder.

"I know you do. Let's take a quick bath and put your pjs on, and then we'll watch __Rudolph__." Abandoning her own dinner, Sharon carried Marie to their bathroom and started the bathwater before getting her undressed. She was learning to bathe herself, but Sharon did it for her this time, then dried her off and helped her into clean panties and a nightgown.

"How's your tummy feeling?" Sharon asked as they settled in the recliner. Marie shrugged and lay on her shoulder, not paying the movie any attention. She was starting to drift off not long after that, so Sharon helped her get ready for bed and tucked her in. "Night-night, honey. Get Papa or me up if you wake up tonight and still feel yucky or need anything. We'll be right here with you." She kissed her forehead and lay down with her, running her fingers along her back until she was asleep.

After a long night of being up and down with Marie, they were both finally sleeping well when Sharon heard Liam cooing through the monitor. The pack'n play was usually in Sharon's and Andy's room, but they'd set it up in the guest room the night before to keep him away from Marie. Andy was snoring without a care in the world, as he'd done all night, and Sharon was exhausted and just wanted to scream. She impatiently nudged Andy until he finally opened his eyes. "__What__?" He mumbled.

"__Please__ go get Liam. I've been up with Marie all night."

Andy looked surprised. "You have?"

Sharon rolled her eyes. "__Yes__, and she's __finally__ feeling a little better."

"Sorry, but you could've woken me up to help." Andy kissed her before going to get Liam up.

Sharon woke up again a couple of hours later and realized Emily was there, so she went ahead and got up. She could hear her and Andy talking, and she shook her head when she heard Andy say "we were up all night with her."

"Um, __we__?" She gave Andy an incredulous look as she entered the kitchen.

"Shit, I didn't know you were awake," Andy muttered.

For the next few hours, the adults took turns entertaining the kids and getting the house party-ready. Marie had woken up feeling much better and was a ball of energy. Sharon was starting to panic by 3:00, afraid they weren't going to be ready. Andy had just ignored her the first few times she snapped at him, but she finally did it one too many times. "Hey, __you__ were the one who insisted on throwing a Christmas party, even when I told you it'd be a nightmare to plan!" He sputtered.

"I know," Sharon admitted, "but I like having all of our friends in one place. That doesn't happen unless we have a party for something."

They managed to pull it together, and the party was in full swing a few hours later. With several children being in attendance, Andy had rented a Santa suit, and they slipped away from the party so Sharon could help him into it.

"So, uh, when do you have to take this back?" Sharon asked suggestively.

Andy grinned. "You have a thing for Santa? I never would've guessed that."

Sharon clasped her hands behind his neck and gently pulled him toward her so she could kiss him. It was intended to just be a peck, but they quickly got carried away. She reluctantly pulled away from him a few minutes later. "All right, we should get back to the party before Santa gets __too__ jolly."

On Sunday morning, Sharon looked up from her coffee when Emily came in with Liam and Marie. They'd spent the night after the party. "Morning, darlings." She kissed each of them on the forehead, but Marie stepped back immediately after and wiped her skin where Sharon had kissed her. "__Don't__ kiss me," she said irritably.

"Okay, __excuse__ me," Sharon responded good-naturedly. "What do you want for breakfast? Pancakes?"

"I'm __not__ speaking to you, Gammy," Marie announced.

"Marie Catherine Baker!" Emily nudged her toward the guest room. "Go sit in our room until you're ready to speak to Gammy and apologize."

Sharon started to follow her, but Emily stopped her. "No, she'll come back when she's hungry enough. Or when she has to eat so we'll have time to get dressed for mass."

"It's okay, Em, maybe she's still not feeling well."

Emily shook her head. "She's fine, and that's still no excuse for her to be rude. She's been a pill since last night. I resorted to threatening her with Santa, but she said she didn't want him to come."

Sharon refilled her coffee, stopping to look at Emily's and Emmett's Christmas card from the year before. She'd put every card since Marie was a baby on the refrigerator when she decorated for Christmas. In the card that caught her eye, Marie and Liam were sitting in Santa's lap, both screaming and reaching for Emily and Emmett off-camera. Emily had thought it was hilarious and used it for their Christmas cards, captioned with 'You better not cry, you better not pout I'm telling you why.'

"Do you think she's afraid of Santa again?" Sharon asked. "Now that I think about it, she wouldn't go _near_ Andy last night when he was in the costume," she added in a low voice.

Emily shrugged. "Even if she is, that doesn't explain why she's in such an ill mood."

A few minutes later, Andy couldn't stand it anymore and sneaked back to the bedroom where Marie had been banished. He sat on the bed and pulled her into his lap. "Want to tell me what's going on?" Marie shook her head. "Why not?"

"Because I don't want you and Gammy to get a divorce," she answered seriously.

Andy was taken aback, not expecting anything like that. "We won't, honey, just tell me what's wrong."

"You promise?"

Andy offered his pinky finger. "Pinky swear."

Marie's eyes widened. That was __serious__. "Okay." She took a deep breath. "I saw Gammy kissing somebody else last night."

Andy smiled. "Gammy kissed several people on the cheek—"

"No, it wasn't, like, a _cheek_ kiss. I saw her put her __tongue__ in his __mouth__, and his __hands__ were on her __hiney__," she insisted. "Yuck."

Andy didn't think about the possibility of Marie seeing them, but he knew she was somehow mistaken. "Are you sure it wasn't someone who looks like Gammy? Mrs. Caroline kind of looks like her from behind." Marie shook her head. "Do you know who it was?" Andy asked, still knowing it wasn't true, but trying to figure out what she had seen so he could explain it.

Marie nodded gravely. "She was kissing __Santa__."

"What?…__Oh__." Andy's mind raced as he tried to come up with an explanation. Not wanting to give anything away, he decided to consult with Sharon and Emily first. "I'll be right back, okay?" He went back to the kitchen and relayed the conversation. Sharon laughed until tears were streaming down her cheeks, but Emily looked disgusted. "Ugh, Rusty and Ricky are __so__ lucky they're still asleep," she muttered. After explaining that Gammy wasn't kissing the real Santa and that Andy had just been playing and dressing up like him, all was forgiven.

The following Tuesday evening, Sharon and Andy cooked Christmas Eve dinner for three of their five collective children. Emily and Emmett were with Emmett's parents, and Nicole, Dean, and their boys were a last-minute addition with Sandra and her husband having the flu. Drew was with his girlfriend's family. Nicole and Dean usually stayed the night with Sandra on Christmas Eve and had accepted Sharon's and Andy's invitation to do so with them since their plans had changed, and they were thrilled with the prospect of having kids in the house on Christmas morning. Once the boys were in bed, Sharon and Andy helped them set up "Santa" before retiring, themselves.

Sharon was just drifting off when Andy poked her. "You asleep yet?"

"I __was__," Sharon mumbled.

"I'm too __excited__ to sleep," Andy whined. "The boys are going to be so excited in the morning, I can't wait!"

Andy did manage to fall asleep, but he was poking Sharon again before dawn on Christmas morning. "__What__?" Sharon sleepily demanded.

"It's morning! Let's get the kids up."

Sharon struggled to open her eyes and looked at the clock on her nightstand. "Andy, it's 5:00!"

"I can't go back to sleep. __Please__?!"

"Oh, all right." Sharon stumbled out of bed and tied her robe around her nightgown. Yawning widely and cussing Andy under her breath, she went straight to the coffee pot. "I don't advise waking them up if the coffee's not ready," she warned.

Andy impatiently waited for the pot to start filling up, then bolted to the boys' room. Sharon rolled her eyes when she heard little feet patter into the guest room as Andy returned to the kitchen, the picture of innocence. She plugged in the Christmas tree lights and switched on the gas logs, almost as eager as Andy now for the boys to come in.

"Stay here until you hear Christmas music," Nicole's sleepy reminder to the boys sounded from the hall. She and Dean were both confused to find Sharon and Andy awake and the coffee already prepared, but they were too drowsy to connect the dots or bother asking questions. "What's gotten into them? They've __never__ gotten up this early before," Nicole muttered as she gratefully accepted a mug of coffee from Sharon.

Sharon figured that the truth behind the early wake-up time would be revealed soon enough, so she didn't rat Andy out just yet. "I'll start the music when you're ready."

"Thanks." Nicole sipped her coffee and got her phone set to video. "Okay, go ahead."

Sharon started her Christmas playlist on Google Home, and the boys stampeded down the hall as soon as they heard the first chords of __Baby, It's Cold Outside__. At six and four, their bouncing excitement was contagious and a joy to watch. Sharon curled up on the couch with Andy, happily watching the boys exclaim over everything. It had been a long time since she'd had kids in the house small enough to wake up so early on Christmas, and she was enjoying the coziness of the early morning and Christmas music.

It wasn't long before Ricky and Rusty trudged in, wearing their matching pajama pants and rubbing their eyes. "They couldn't have waited a couple more hours?" Ricky grumbled.

Rusty rolled his eyes. "It was probably _Andy_ that couldn't wait. He's the biggest child in this room."

The guilty expression on Andy's face gave him away. "Ugh, __really__, Dad?" Nicole moaned. "I should've known."

Ricky looked down at the pajama pants he and Rusty had unwrapped the night before. "When will we be too old for matching Christmas pajamas?"

Sharon shook her head. "Never."

By 8:00, breakfast was over and cleaned up, and the boys wanted to take their toys outside to play. Sharon and Nicole shared the swing, sipping mimosas and wrapped up in blankets, while Andy played in the yard with the kids. He was having as much fun with their toys as they were. They had to drag them inside a few hours later for lunch, but they went right back outside after eating.

Emily and Emmett arrived soon after lunch, after doing Christmas morning and eating an early lunch with Emmett's parents. Marie ran into the yard to play, but Liam was whimpering and rubbing his eyes. "I think someone's ready for a nap," Sharon commented, holding her hands out to Liam. He reached for her and lay on her shoulder after she took him from Emmett. After a couple of minutes of swinging, he was out.

Emily looked out in the yard, where the kids were playing with one toy and Andy was playing with another. "Why is Andy playing with that by himself—never mind, that sounds about right."

After dinner and opening gifts from one another that night, Emily, Emmett, Ricky, and Rusty sat on the porch while Sharon and Andy put Marie and Liam to bed and finished cleaning up the living room. __Christmas to Christmas __started playing as Sharon stuffed the last scrap of wrapping paper in a trash bag. Andy took the trash bag from her hands and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head as they swayed along with the music.

__Seems like only yesterday__

__We put our Christmas things away__

__Now here's another Christmas day with you__

__When you're in love, how time does fly__

__And this year that's just flown by__

__Has been one happy holiday for two__

__Christmas to Christmas__

__Wrapped in your arms__

__Love's always in season__

__And always so warm__

__Till my days on earth are through__

__I will spend Christmas to Christmas lovin' you__

Sharon lay on Andy's shoulder, exhausted from the long day. While tiring, the day full of grandchildren and laughter had been perfect. "I know I say this a lot, but I'm so happy," she murmured.

Andy put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her. "That makes two of us."


End file.
